Every year high school students submit art from around the country to compete in the Congressional Art Competition but one painting is causing quite the discussion in California.

The Washington Post reports that a teen’s submission depicting the Statue of Liberty wearing a hijab caught the attention of a group in California. It now hangs in the office of Democratic Rep. J. Luis Correa.

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A group called “We the People Rising” reportedly has an issue with the painting and that fact that it hangs in Correa’s office, reports the Post.

According to the group, reports the Post, the painting is a violation of separation of church and state.

Correa said a member of the group penned a letter to his office asking for the painting to be taken down but he refused.

“Ultimately, to attribute a specific religion to the Statue of Liberty is inaccurate, unprofessional and offensive,” wrote Mike McGetrick, an activist in We the People Rising. “In addition, the painting displays the torch of the Statue of Liberty, not as the heralded beacon of light, but rather held awkwardly to one side — in a perplexing, even disturbing, manner.”

Despite the pushback from certain groups, Correa isn’t backing down from having the portrait in his office. He told the Washington Post that the painting in hanging in his office because it the individual artist’s expression and it was chosen as a finalist for the congressional competition.

Policing art, and “what is proper, what is not,” he said to the Post, would violate freedom of speech laws and lead to a “very dangerous slippery slope.”

“My thoughts were, here’s probably a young Muslim lady who is trying very hard to be part of America, who is trying very hard to show people that she is an American, given the context that is going on around us in our country,” Correa said. “By me taking it down I’m acknowledging that she did something wrong.”

Correa continued the interview by confirming that his office reached out to the House Office of General Counsel for guidance and was assured that there was “nothing wrong or in any way malicious in posting” the photo.